Kairos Palestine’s statement on Israeli house demolitions

The International Middle East Media Centre reproduces the Kairos Palestine statement on house demolitions:

Everywhere, and throughout the occupied Palestinian Territories, the Israeli authorities demolish the houses of Palestinians, which the international law stipulates that they be protected and preserved by the occupying authority. In violation to the said law and to implement colonial plans, the Israeli authorities demolish houses, confiscate lands and build settlements on their ruins.

In 2018, the Israeli authorities demolished 2775 Bedouins’ houses in the Negev. People resisted such measures and had their homes rebuilt. The town of al-Araqib, for example, was demolished and rebuilt 145 times. The Jahalin Bedouins of East Jerusalem have suffered a similar ordeal.

In Sourbaher, east of Jerusalem, dozens of houses that existed for years were demolished weeks ago. In Jerusalem, houses have been demolished under the pretext of not having a building permit, or with the intention of displacing the Palestinian population and Judaizing the Holy City. Very recently, a house and a restaurant of a Christian family, in Beit-Jala (Bethlehem area), were demolished according to an arbitrary court decision. The court ruled that the land of this Christian family, inherited from their ancestors, through generations, was not their own. It ordered that the house and restaurant be demolished and the property transferred to the settlers.

Justifications for such actions may include: Violating the laws of the planning department, lack of building permits, or reprisals against individual Palestinian militant attacks on Israeli targets. Indeed, the Israelis impose collective punishment on the families and relatives of militants by demolishing their houses.

A family house is sacred as much as the family. It is a sacred place exactly as a place of worship. People work hard and for their entire life to have their own house built. Yet, it is demolished simply because of an arbitrary and inhumane military decision. The Israelis build settlements in violation to international laws, to the law of nature and to God’s commandments. God said: do not steal. The settlers law says: steal any Palestinian land to build a settlement. Indeed, the houses of settlers are constructed on confiscated i.e. stolen Palestinian land.

Kairos Palestine is ‘a Christian Palestinian movement, born out of the Kairos Document, which advocates for ending the Israeli occupation and achieving a just solution to the conflict. The Kairos Document is the word of Christian Palestinians to the world about what is happening in Palestine.’ (Taken from their website https://www.kairospalestine.ps/index.php)